Michele Markham Email & Phone Number

Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Jacksonville, Florida Area

Orlando, Florida

HD Supply is one of the largest industrial distributors in North America, providing a broad range of products and services to some 500,000 customers. From 600+ locations, the company's 15,000 associates provide localized, customer-driven services, diversified logistics, and innovative solutions that contribute to customers' success. When I was recruited to HD Supply by my former GE boss, I could not have foreseen the massive changes that totally transformed the business – and the diverse challenges they presented to our IT strategy.■ CHALLENGE #1: Develop a technology strategy for the business, which had been formed through the acquisition of multiple smaller businesses, each accustomed to operating autonomously.■ ACTIONS: Created a strategic roadmap founded on 3 principles: SIMPLIFY to improve the customer experience, DIGITIZE business processes for efficiency, and INTEGRATE the infrastructure to deliver cost productivity.■ RESULTS: A culture of performance with independent operating platforms for each business unit, shared enterprise systems for common processes, and world-class infrastructure services that are reliable, scalable, secure and cost-competitive.■ CHALLENGE #2: “Unplug” HD Supply from The Home Depot, following decision to divest.■ ACTIONS: We used our strategy roadmap throughout the complex process of moving to a standalone infrastructure while creating a culture of open, honest communication to help our teams understand the changes and stay focused.■ RESULTS: We completed the divestiture separation ahead of schedule and under budget. ■ CHALLENGE #3: Navigate the economic downturn that severely affected our industry while preparing to transition to a public company.■ ACTIONS: Focus investments on enhancing the customer experience, improve cost performance, and ensure compliance adherence as if we were already a public company.■ RESULTS: HD Supply stock rose from $18 at the time of the IPO to $35 (June 2015; revenues $9B).

Trevose, Pennsylvania

Driving down cost was a constant challenge at GE, using management practices that became world-renowned. One of those practices was known as “bullet trains” – an innovative concept to drive multiple small initiatives that together can produce big savings.In a newly created role, I was asked to lead the bullet trains for sourcing operations in a $5B business.KEY INITIATIVES AND RESULTS■ Implemented an Oracle purchasing tool that, combined with tough but fair vendor negotiations, produced $20M annual savings.■ Generated $10M savings by driving ownership and visibility of indirect costs to 150+ leaders.■ Negotiated SAP contract yielding $500K annual savings and 30% price deflation.■ Aggregated 40+ indirect sourcing processes to a single website, driving standardization and simplification.

Devon, Pennsylvania

The new CEO OF GE Equipment Services recruited me to join his executive team. A key challenge in creating and executing IT strategy for the business was its size and scope – more than 200 branch offices and a global footprint, supported by a $30M IT budget.KEY INITIATIVES AND RESULTS■ Revitalized IT organization with 25% new talent and created a customer-centric, high-energy meritocracy.■ Drove Six Sigma methodology, adding 6 Black Belts and training 98% of team within first 7 months.■ Saved $500K while improving stability through upgrades and improvements to WAN/LAN/Citrix farm.■ Created multi-generation IT plan that reduced applications by 40% and included disaster recovery.

Louisville, Kentucky

After rising through the GE ranks on the finance track, I was hand-picked for a completely new role, as IT manager. Here I began to develop my leadership skills to build high-performance teams. And I brought my finance expertise to the strategy process, ensuring that IT budgets were carefully managed and that all of our efforts were aligned with the overall business strategy.

Louisville, Ky And Pittsfield, Ma

Recruited to the GE Experienced Financial Leadership Program (EFLP) in 1997. Developed financial models to analyze and forecast the P&L, funds flow and working capital for $5B Appliance business. Led efforts to prepare strategic business presentations, including: SI, SII, CEC, corporate reporting and analyst communications.

Louisville, Kentucky Area

Relocated to take opportunity to expand technical skills as key finance support to Dishwasher Plant Manager. Developed operationally-focused variable labor estimating model and identified $800K cost savings with make-versus-buy analysis for Fabrication area.

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Area

Demonstrating strong analytical aptitude and ability to influence change, recruited by CFO into the GE Financial Management Program in 1990.Additional positions included:Credit Manager and Cash Applications: GE Plastics, 1993–1995Financial Analyst: GE Plastics, 1990–1993Sales Pricing Administrator: GE Plastics, 1988–1990IT Training Specialist: GE Plastics, 1987–1988Technical Publications Writer: GE Aerospace, 1984–1986

Mba, Finance

Bs, Computer Science

Ge Experienced Finance Leadership Program

Ge Financial Management Program